Oden Adventures

We started off September with a fun trip to Newport Beach, on Patrick's last day before starting up fall classes.  Vianne really liked this big hole in the sand...

 ...as well as splashing around in the waves with Daddy...

 ...while Mama & Oliver hung out in the Shade Shack.

 This was little O's first time at the beach, and he seemed to be a fan, or at peace anyway...

 

 Daddy took Oliver so Mama could enjoy the waves a bit, too!

 

 

In the continuing category of Creative Diversions for a Two Year Old, I got this color-sorting idea from googling "activities for two year olds", and what a treasure it has been!  So far "the pom-poms", as Vianne calls this, have clocked hours on the Toddler Time-Occupier.  I got some Dollar Tree pom poms and saved up some toilet paper rolls and then wrapped each roll in colored paper to match the pom poms.  Then we tape the rolls to the wall and she puts the pom poms one by one into the matching tube and they land in a plastic bin that held salad from Costco.  Cheap thrills!

We've started doing my first official Mom Thing: going to story time at the San Dimas Library, which happens almost every Friday morning.  Vianne enjoys the stories & songs, but gets the most excited about the craft time.  This was the first one we went to when it was right before Grandparents' Day (that's a thing, I guess) so they were making cards for their grandparents.

Tut, tut, it looks like rain!  We are always on alert for chances to use our umbrellas 'round here. We had a couple of little tiny sprinkles in September...:::sigh:::...maybe October will do better?

 The Hsiehs sent this Doc McStuffins cell phone for Vianne along with a gift for Oliver and she was thrilled!  Made "calls" on it (and slept with it in her bed) for days!

 The following is not a very exciting picture, but it represents a new stage in V's life: the playing Kinect on Xbox with Daddy stage.  She's a little too distractable to be very good at it yet, but she still asks to play several times daily...

 Sibling snuggles

 I believe what was happening here was Curious George had to go to the "hopspull" (hospital - we're still talking a lot about the whole hospital adventure surrounding O's birth).  At least he gets a cushy bed, right?

 September continued to be very hot so we continued to do indoor air-conditioned things like bathtub finger painting...

 Oliver looked on (trying out the bouncy seat) either confused or horrified...

 One of V's pastimes continues to be taking coins out of the piggy bank & putting them back in

 "Earrings"

 First candy necklace & bracelets, from Cammie

 "Where's Vianne?"

 Mama needed some fresh air & nature so we headed slightly north to Horse Thief Canyon Park for a little break from the air conditioning.

 And to end the month on a high note, Vianne got a special gift from Daddy, a cowboy hat which she's been saying she "needs" for months now.  I took about 16 photos of her, trying to get a straight-on shot, but to no avail.  But I did get this hilarious pose!  She loves the hat and says, "You take it off and say, 'Yee-haw!'"